cultivating coraline (purplish) algae

Hi, I made a horrible mistake a few weeks ago and during a big (50%) water change i forgot to add dechlorinator to the water until about half of it was already in the tank. the fish seemed mostly unaffected, i killed my cleaner shrimp and the other shrimp/inverts were going crazy but survived. i also managed to kill/bleach the little bit of coraline algae i had growing on my liverock. it's really sad for me because i bought a new light a few months ago and since i'd started noticing small patches of coraline growing here and there and getting bigger and bigger. i don't want/like to use tank additives but it's been 3 weeks and i don't see even a hint of coraline--maybe i just need to wait longer? i would be willing to do some minor dosing to kick start coraline growing again but want to stay away from long term dosing solutions (like purple up). i'm just worried that i've killed all coraline and may not get it back without some sort of kick start. what do you recommend?

water params are great ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate=0; ph=8; salinity=1.026; temp=78

 

Coraline grows when your Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium levels are at the ideal concentrations. Do you know where your parameters for Cal, alk, and mag are??

 

coralline algae takes time to grow just make sure your cal,alk,and alk is up to par and it will grow. You could also seed it with coralline from another piece of live rock or a snail that has it on its shell. Get the point. Hopes this helps.

 

Just keep your MG, CA, and alk up at the proper levels. Soon it will become pesky and you will have to chisel it off your glass and overflow slits

 

like, deehrr... of course! i should seed my tank! thanks, i dunno why i didn't think of the obvious. i think my alk is 250-300 but i should buy another kit that is more precise. i will also definitely invest in a calcium/magnesium test kit; thanks for the advise, seeding is what i need to do to avoid using weird chemicals.

any recommendations for good calcium/magnesium test kits or are many of them adequate? recommendations for adjusting magnesium/calcium so i start off right? at this point i don't want to invest in extra hardware/reactors (yet!

 

I used "Purple up" in this biocube and got this result;

Looking at your profile, you won't have any problem with the Iodine in the product. Add some a couple times a week foe a couple of weeks or so and see the results.

 

here is the problem with products like purple up etc... if you have no clue what your mag/alk/calcium is you shouldn't use them. you may be putting the tank more and more out of whack and run into ph problems etc... All 3 of those chemicals interact, it is important to dose them properly. It may turn out that purple up has the right porportions for your system. In that case, the results will be good. If your system is out of whack, it will make the problem worse. pays to check and get it right, there is no magical ingredient in purple up. What is your mag/alk and calicum? (and ph if it changed)

 

hmmm, you've all been a great help. now i'm actually thinking of getting some purple up--only because i will be purchasing some test kits for calcium, magnesium and kH first. (i have been testing alkalinity but it's not accurate enough for me so i want to upgrade).

is the general consensus--it's cool to dose as long as you measure before and after? or is it that even if you measure that purple up isn't any good because of side effects?

i've never used any additives before other than salt and dechlorinator so i'm thinking my params for Ca/Mg may be low. i really don't know the best way to dose/stabilize but i'm thinking maybe purple up or maybe some stuff from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals?

 

your tank is really nice, what kind of plants are those? they help with nitrates?

 

I have never used Purple Up and my tank looks like this..



Seeding you tank, keeping your parameters in check, and giving it time to grow is the only way it will happen.

As for what supplements to use. I use Seachem and E.S.V. products. I use Seachems Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium products. I use E.S.V.'s B-Ionic, and lately I just started topping off with Kalkwasser.